Adaptive Leadership in collaborations Liz Skelton Director: Collaboration for Impact & The Adaptive Practice 20th October 2015

1.Incomplete or contradictory knowledge; 2.Has number of people and opinions involved; 3.Is hard to understand or predict 4.Has long time horizons for cause and effect; and 5.The interconnected nature of these problems with other problems. A wicked/adaptive problem is a challenge that is difficult to solve 2

Complex problems are difficult to frame The cause and effect relationships are unclear There are diverse stakeholders Each experience of is unique The characteristics & dynamics of the issue evolves There is no obvious right or wrong set of solutions There is no objective measure of success Complex problems are difficult to frame The cause and effect relationships are unclear There are diverse stakeholders Each experience of is unique The characteristics & dynamics of the issue evolves There is no obvious right or wrong set of solutions There is no objective measure of success How do you know if you’ve got one? 3

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Balcony and Dancefloor 5

Adaptation What do we Conserve? What do we Discard? Where do we innovate? 6

Purpose 7

Role of Authority We expect those in Authority to provide us with answers. Authority provide the FUNCTIONS of Protection Direction Order. Authority is not leadership Authority is expected to maintain the status quo 8

Power & authority POSITIONAL POWER - Formal INFORMAL POWER - PERSONAL

Distinguishing Technical & Adaptive challenges 10

Adaptive challenge symptom: Work Avoidance Diverting attention Displacing responsibility Turn down heat Scapegoat Deny Attack Authority Proxy fight Delegate adaptive work to those who can’t do anything about it Misdiagnose and apply technical fix Marginalise Define around current expertise Externalise 11

Leadership from a position of authority TaskTechnicalAdaptive Direction Provide problem definition & solution Identify the adaptive challenge; frame key questions & issues Protection Protect from external threats Disclose external threats Order Orientation Conflict Norms Orient people to current roles Restore order Maintain norms Disorient current roles; resist orienting people to new roles too quickly. Expose conflict or let it emerge. Challenge norms or let them be challenged. 12

Mindsets & skills for adaptive leadership  Creating foundation for change and learning  Purpose  Power  Diagnosing  Working with conflict for innovation  Tolerance for risk and failure  Curiosity 13

Exercising Leadership - Diagnosis See yourself as part of the system – spectator to participant Understand the challenge – is it technical or adaptive? Distinguish leadership from authority Lead with questions Is there readiness, urgency and capacity for change Use observations and interpretations to test assumptions Diagnose dynamics not people Test purpose 14

Reflection questions What adaptive challenges are you and your stakeholders facing? What needs to be conserved in your system to make progress? What need to be tweaked or let go of? Where is innovation required? 15

Liz Skelton Director Collaboration for Impact & The Adaptive Practice